Knight to Queen Square
by henriettaline
Summary: Finn and Rachel are reconnecting, but Finn's increasing entrenchment in Lima threatens their future and reasserted bond. She needs him to join her, but how and why he does turns out to be just as important as whether he does. Post-S4. Continuing.
1. The Pull of the Heart

_This is my attempt at a post-S4 Finchel fic, picking up right after (and slightly during) the season finale. Other characters will appear as the story warrants; there's also a lot of parallel development going on in the show that is hard to ignore entirely._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters that I am using here._

* * *

_I'm the one who wants to love you more (*)  
_

Rachel poured everything she had into the song, all she was and all she hoped to be. _Something I'm truly passionate about that defines me_, she thought, remembering Finn's perfect advice, wondering if he knew that this led her straight back to him. She dreamed of being Fanny, yes, and having Broadway success, but tapping into her heart meant singing about love, about Finn.

She'd been blocked on this for so long, that dark winter. But her emotions were flowing freely now, carrying everything else with them.

She finished, a few last tears coming, and then waited as the producers thanked her politely. Now that she could look out at them again she saw that they seemed moved, impressed; she hoped that was enough. She must have impressed them significantly already just to have gotten this far, through all the rounds of auditions.

There were a few more still to see, she was told, for different roles; they hoped to have a decision for her late that afternoon. So she thanked them for their consideration, did her best to conduct herself as the professional she hoped to be, and left.

The loft was quiet, empty. She hated that, hated waiting alone, but was learning to steel herself against that loneliness now she'd seen how badly she could mess things up with her need for company and attention. Still, she now felt echoes of last fall; she was wiser now, but still she was in New York and everyone else was in Lima. Back in Lima, admittedly. But it wasn't either of her absent roommates that she missed, Kurt with his excitement and sympathy or Santana with her barbs and challenging affection. Rachel's heart was still in her song, still fixed on Finn.

She looked at the clock. Eleven. She would hear by four at the earliest, probably later, even tomorrow. And everyone was in Lima, busy, New Directions at Regionals, most of the others supporting them, and Finn had some makeup test that she could tell he hadn't wanted to talk about. She'd accepted his evasions despite her sinking feeling at having him hiding things from her again; it wasn't time to push, but she did her best to open up with him in the hopes that he'd do the same with her. He'd certainly been sorry he wouldn't be able to go to Regionals, and she had said that made them the same because she couldn't either, and they'd shared a chuckle. She was going to call him as soon as she heard, of course, but great as talking to him again was, she always felt the need for more, wanting to see him, feel him, be with him.

Five hours to wait. And the flight from Newark to Dayton was only two.

Rachel quickly looked into last-minute flights, threw a few things into her largest shoulder bag, and called a taxi to take her to the airport.

* * *

Luck was with Rachel, in the form of a vacant seat on the next flight to Dayton and a shuttle bus that stopped at the University of Lima campus en route to the local hotels. A few doubts surfaced en-route, she didn't know what Finn was up to other than school and New Directions, or whether he would really welcome her coming out-of-the-blue. But she shunted those thoughts aside, still energized by her solo and full of the same determination to go after what she needed.

Once she arrived on campus she quickly found the cluster of residence buildings. The information Finn had given her about where he was staying was pretty sketchy, but he had mentioned the building name once in passing, and despite poor signage she found it on her second try. She went inside and did her best to look as though she belonged, at least as if she was an invited visitor rather than someone wandering the halls. She made it up to the third floor before being stopped by a student, a dirty blond guy of medium height who looked slightly older.

"If you're looking for a party it's at Jones tonight," he said, giving her a small but noticeable once-over. "Haven't seen you at ours though, why not?"

"Ah..." Rachel stalled a little. "I'm from out-of-town," she excused herself. He didn't look like he was about to object to her wandering around, after all. And she did feel like she was from out-of-town, Lima would always be a part of her but a lot of that was due to Finn. New York was her home, now.

"Oh, that explains it." He looked at her again, not leering exactly or crowding her, but a more intimate gaze and a step closer than would be normal. She suppressed the urge to move back. "I'm the RA here, I keep an eye on everyone that comes through. I know I'd've remembered _you_."

Rachel decided that she might as well use this to her advantage, and gave him a friendly but still cool smile. "Then perhaps you can help me," she said. "I'm looking for Finn Hudson."

He cooled his own look down to 'friendly' at this. "Hudson? Sure, he's on this floor, room at the end. He's out, though."

"I know, he's writing a test today, but he shouldn't be long." Her acting had improved greatly at NYADA, and her knowledge and assured air should finish the job, convince this guy that she was expected.

The RA looked skeptical. "I saw him leave just half an hour ago, he won't be back for at least another hour if he's got a test."

"Oh." Rachel squelched her disappointment at having been just a little too late, it really was better for her not to have distracted Finn before his test. But she couldn't just hang out there for an hour, or could she? She didn't want to wander around, she didn't know the campus at all – it hadn't been of any interest to her, not having much of a fine arts program – and she might miss him. "I suppose I did make very good time. I don't suppose I could stay here and wait for him?"

"You his sister or something?" the RA asked, looking a little hopeful again, though his suggestion was highly implausible. "I could let you into his room, I have access."

"I'm his girlfriend," she replied, almost by reflex. She flinched a little as she heard herself say the lie, but – Finn had told her that, after all, that no matter what happened she was his, and she knew he was right about that. He'd told her she was his girlfriend, and she was coming to believe it too. She hoped that he hadn't changed away from it.

"Hudson has a girlfriend?" The guy sounded surprised. "Didn't know he went in for that."

_Girls, or just girlfriends?_ Rachel wondered, but neither really mattered much. It's not as if she had anything to protest about, though if he was sleeping around then maybe he was getting as lost as she had been, or just filling the void. She knew much more about that than she'd like. "Really?" she asked, trying to sound noncommittal.

"I don't know. I mean he sure seems interested in girls, but sure as sh– uh, shooting – if there's a couple of girls at a party hanging off him and Puck, by the end it's Puckerman 2 Hudson 0." He snorted. "It's the law of conservation of girls."

"That's because Finn has his own," Rachel declared, hoping that this was true. She flashed a bright confident smile. And she did feel confident, it certainly sounded like Finn wasn't trying to get over her, he was waiting for her, and here she was.

"Well I guess I can let you in," the guy shrugged. "Hudson's a big boy, if he doesn't want you there he can take care of it himself."

Rachel relaxed and followed the RA down the corridor to the room at the end, and yes the sign on the noticeboard said _Finn & Puck_. She giggled a little to see that the sign was in three pieces and showed signs of having been rearranged repeatedly, presumably in a dispute over whose name should go first. Finn was listed first now, so he must have been in last.

"No idea where Puckerman is, as usual," the man commented as he unlocked the door. "Better that way since he's not supposed to be here at all. But he does keep the place fun."

"Noah always does," she replied, remembering that of course security wasn't that big a deal since Puck was living in a place where he wasn't even a student. "Thank you."

"Sure, no problem." He let her enter, then turned to go. "And if there is a problem, you never met me."

"Understood." Then the door closed behind her, and she was alone in Finn's room.

Rachel looked around, finding one dorm room to look a lot like any other, at least from what she remembered of her brief stay in the NYADA dorms. This one had bunks, but otherwise: _uncomfortable_ _single beds, check; desks, check; bulletin board, check; sexually hyperactive roommate, check..._

The drum sitting by the corner of the couch, that was rarer, and she liked that sign, making this room special because this was Finn's. Next to the drum was the end of the bunks; Finn would have the lower one, she knew, he liked to sit on the side of his bed. She quietly sat there now, still looking around the room, waiting.

She noted the clock showing ten minutes to four, still forty-five minutes to go before when Finn would likely be back.

Rachel lay back into the bunk, enjoying the scent that lingered. Yes it meant he probably didn't wash his sheets as much as he should, but it was _Finn_. Then she looked up, and her breath caught.

Above her, taped to the bottom of the top bunk, deep in the corner where they would be private, were pictures. Photographs, three of them, all of her. One of her solo at Nationals; one a candid he'd taken on his phone of her sitting in the choir room, he'd called her name and she'd looked up with one of the smiles that was his alone; and one of the two of them together at prom, her face leaning on his chest and his against her hair. She reached out to that one, lightly touching Finn's cheek in the picture, sure now that she was doing the right thing in coming to him.

She idly checked the time again, finding it just before four o'clock. But it had been a long day for her already. She'd called heavily on adrenaline, for her callback certainly and then the trip and her search for Finn, and that energy was ebbing rapidly. Soothed by the familiar impressions of Finn around her, Rachel dozed.

She came suddenly back to full wakefulness when her phone rang, giving the ringtone that she'd chosen for the Funny Girl producers. She sat up rapidly; this was it, the news, so soon. They had made up their minds quickly. She wondered whether this was a good or bad sign, if this meant their minds had largely been made up before hearing her sing that morning, but either way she needed to know. So she answered, and listened, nodding and saying the right words, agreeing to what was being said.

She hung up and took a deep breath, schooling her hectic thoughts. Then the door opened. And Rachel looked up at the man standing staring at her, and gave him her warmest and brightest smile.

* * *

_* "To Love You More", as sung by Lea Michele as Rachel, written by David Foster and Junior Miles._

_Yes this was a bit of a conceit, to open my story under the same constraints the show had (though I took much longer to write it). I hope you like what I did with it._

_Please review!_


	2. Bravado

_Hey there.  
So... I'm still not sure about the fate of this story, though I am currently planning to continue it when and if I can, in some form. I had originally planned to finish this chapter up and post it July 14, so it was mostly done, and it does at least resolve things I left hanging previously. Otherwise, we'll see._  
_Your appreciation and understanding means a lot to me. Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing, and your kind words of support._

_For my readers, and for Cory – this is for you._

* * *

Noah Puckerman, Puck to most of the world, was congratulating himself on a day well spent. He'd been over at McKinley to watch Jake compete at Show Choir Regionals, and he was happy to see that his little brother was looking good and living up to the Puckerman name.

The performing Puckerman name. The performing _on stage_ Puckerman name. The other kind of performing was best left to the original, at least if Jake wasn't going to ruin things with his chick. Not everyone could properly pull off being a sex shark, even with Puckerman DNA.

Anyway, once he saw his little bro and his friends keep up the Regionals winning streak for New Directions, Puck had headed out, opting to skip the celebration backstage. Sure, he'd helped out a little, with Jake there and all, but he wasn't going to get sucked back in semi-permanently, no way. He wasn't about to hang out on the UoL campus either, though, so he cruised around for a while, checking on his old hangouts, driving past the houses of the pools (and women) he maintained in summer. Thinking about his screenplay, of course.

But it was Saturday night, time to let loose and pick up some girls. Jones House had been talking up their party all week, all he needed to do was swing by the dorm and pick up the Finnster. Way too early to go to the party of course, got to wait to make an entrance and give the girls time to get loosened up first, but they could make some grilled cheese or maybe even get some pizza. The dude had been working hard, studying up for his test and all, he deserved some fun. Maybe Finn could even get busy with a chick – if he could stop mooning over the one that got away for once – and if he could find one that didn't want a piece of the Puckasaurus at the end of the night instead.

So Puck swaggered down the rez hall to the room he shared with Finn. He stopped for a moment at the dorm room door to rearrange the name sign, paying no attention to the rest of the board. Then he opened the door... and froze dead at the sight in front of him.

* * *

"Hey!"

The shout from the lower bunk startled Puck, well that and the sight of his friend's long pale naked back on it, as Finn grabbed his blanket and scrambled to cover over both himself and whoever it was beneath him. Puck didn't want to see this anyway, though he was curious who the chick was. "Sorry, dude, I – "

"You came up with the fucking signal, read it!"

"Yeah, I – " Puck was uncharacteristically at a loss for words. Yeah, the signal had been there, he just hadn't really noticed it, it's not like he thought Finn would be using it. It was also really new being the dude walking in instead of the one in the sack. "I figured Berry still had a tight hold on your balls, I guess. Sorry." Though if he was right about that, Finn was going to hate himself later for what he was doing now, though Puck privately thought it was the sort of thing to do him good if he'd just get into it. Clothes were scattered on the floor by the bunks, so whatever this was had been sudden and heated. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned Rachel at a time like this, especially – but any mild fear that he'd screwed up whatever was going on vanished when he heard a groan rip from Finn's throat, followed by a giggle.

A very familiar giggle.

"Well not _tight_," he heard her whisper, and yeah his buddy was _the man_ if he'd managed to pull the girl he wanted back to him and straight into his bed. And loosened her up enough to talk like that. Still, Puck stood there with his jaw open, 'cause this was certainly a surprise.

"Leave, Noah," Rachel ordered. "You're interrupting." Finn snorted, clearly amused.

"Yeah, uh... catch you two later."

"Much later." At her last command, Puck backed out quietly and closed the door behind him, adjusting the signal so it was more in the way. And then got the hell out of there.

* * *

With Puck gone, Rachel gave Finn a heated look, trying to get things back to where they left off. But the mood was broken, so she settled for giving him a lingering kiss, then nestling her head against his bare shoulder. She relaxed into him as she felt him stroke her hair, his other arm wrapping around her hips.

She liked feeling his hands on her again, even though she hadn't meant for them to hit the sheets so quickly. She had most certainly stopped trying to use sex to cover loneliness. But this was different, this was _Finn_, the contact she had truly missed. And he had stared at her agape, walked slowly over to her as she rose to meet him, then tenderly cradled her face in his hands, looking mesmerized into her eyes as if he couldn't believe she was real. On impulse she had kissed his thumb, then lightly sucked it, and at that trigger they had been all over each other.

It hadn't taken long before they were peaking together, their cries of bliss mingling. They had been fondling each other again to start a second round when they had been so rudely interrupted.

Now, relaxing with him, Rachel gave a happy sigh, enjoying the feel of his body against hers, inhaling the intoxicating scent of their combined arousal. "I'm so glad I'm here," she murmured. "So very glad."

"Me too." Finn looked down at her, a curious smile on his face. "But what are you doing here? I never asked." He rolled his eyes as she gestured at him in response, implying that what she was doing was clearly _him_. They hadn't said much of anything at all. "Why you came here, why now. Especially with all your stuff with _Funny Girl_ going on, I thought your callback was this morning."

"It was."

"And...?" He shifted his body, angling away from her to watch her face. "How did it go? What did you end up picking to sing?"

"It went really well, they seemed very impressed. I chose Celine, 'To Love You More' – I meant the role when I picked it but I kept thinking about you."

"Yeah?" He was trying to stay serious, she could tell, but the corner of his mouth betrayed him by twitching into his characteristic smirk.

"Yeah." She bit her lip, looking at him.

"So you, what, walked out of the audition and straight onto a plane here?"

"Basically. It wasn't the song, I just knew where I wanted to be when I got the news."

"You wanted to be home."

"Mm-hmm." She brought a hand between them, placing it gently on his chest, over his heart. "Home."

A shadow briefly crossed his face, sadness and pain and disbelief, and his arms tightened, pulling her into him.

"It's not real without you," she said softly, nestling close again. "Everything else that's been happening, even things I've been doing, it doesn't feel like it's actually me unless I can share it with you somehow." It was the closest she could manage to excuse what she'd done with Brody; she hadn't felt like herself without Finn, untethered since the morning she had woken up to find him gone, and in hiding from the pain she had lost herself in the part of a New Yorker and clutched at anyone she could find to fill the void. Lacking Finn to ground her, she had drifted; but even in all that, it hadn't felt entirely real.

And she had to regretfully admit to herself that she had acted not only out of pain but also partly out of spite, to show him that he couldn't just run out on her and keep shutting her out. But the greater spite had been to herself. That realization had been part of her decision to come to see him now.

* * *

Finn held her gently, his hand splayed over her bare lower back, fingers tracing lower still. His tension had eased at her words, at the feeling of her with him again. The sex was great, sure, but unlike Valentine's Day there was a feeling of reunion, of togetherness. That she had wanted to be with him, and put it into action so forthrightly – he felt for the first time in a very long time that maybe she really did need him, and certainly that he was truly wanted. And he had missed her so much. That she had called him her home again, and wanted to be with him when she got that all-important news... he sighed and gave her another caress.

"It's a good thing they didn't call while we were, uh..." he offered tentatively.

"Actually they called just before you got back," she answered, adjusting herself a little beneath his hand. "So no fear."

"Really?" He pulled back to look searchingly into her face, trying to find a hint of the result. "And...? Was this congratulations sex or commiseration sex?" Was he being used, in a way? And if he was, did he mind? He wasn't sure, just glad that she was there, that the person she'd wanted above all was himself.

"Neither. It was 'I'm alone in a room with Finn Hudson' sex." She blushed, and Finn couldn't help but grin. "I wanted to see you, the rest just... felt natural."

"Yeah," he breathed. They lay there for a moment, both silent.

"So...?" Finn prompted.

"...what?" she answered teasingly, and they shared a laugh.

"What did they say? The call from the producers."

"It was an offer. To be the understudy."

Finn groaned. "I'm so, so sorry Rach," he consoled her, rubbing her back. "That sucks."

"Actually... it doesn't."

"What?"

"Well okay it does suck, I really had my hopes up but – I still get to be part of a real Broadway production of _Funny Girl_, playing Fanny. I'll rehearse all of it, working with the top people, and I should get to go on at some point even if it's just a matinee. It's such an opportunity, really. And I'm going to take that opportunity as much as I can, and I'm going to shine in the role I've prepared to play since I was a little girl."

Finn smiled, happy to see her dealing with this setback well. She would have thought through the possibilities before, he figured, and he liked seeing her determination bounce back so quickly. This was the Rachel he had always loved. "And you'll be a star, I know it. They'll see what I see."

She giggled. "Well not _everything_ you see."

He chuckled in return, his eyes lingering on her bare breasts. "Okay, I guess it's not _that_ kind of show. But they'll see how amazing you are. How brightly you shine."

"Some of that's for you too," she admitted softly, her face a little shy. She brightened. "So you'd better come," she insisted.

"Of course I will." Finn held her more tightly. "I'm really proud of you," he said quietly, and he meant it both for how far she had come and how she was taking the news that she'd fallen a little short.

She nodded, acknowledging it. "I'm really proud of you too," she answered. "Now, with what you're doing, and before."

"Before?"

"I wouldn't have this opportunity if I'd stayed here, even for a year. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make my dream come true, I wouldn't have had it without your sacrifice. What you did, all that you've done, your advice and inspiration, _you_." She put her head next to his. "Thank you," she whispered, and he felt the truth of it, felt that she had forgiven him for how much he'd hurt her, for leaving her.

He kissed her temple, and they held each other close.

"By the way..." she murmured after a few minutes.

"Yeah?"

"I'm still alone in a room with Finn Hudson." She ran her hands down his chest, looking at him from under her eyelashes, a flirtatious smile on her lips.

Finn smirked and helped her shift to straddle him. "So you are."

* * *

_Please review!_


	3. The Call

_No, your eyes do not deceive you - K2QSq is back. It'll be slow going, but I do plan to continue it, potentially much further than I originally intended since it's now not just a temporary fill-in but instead a complete replacement. Finchel Forever._

* * *

Finn awoke to hear the sound of his door closing. He was alone.

He looked over to the floor by the foot of his bed. Empty, the shadow that had been Rachel's bag was gone. He felt empty too, and it wasn't just because sex had made him completely forget about food. The gnawing inside wasn't hunger. She was gone; she had come to him, screwed his brains out, and gone. Again. So much for him being her 'home'.

Was this how it was going to still be, reunion after reunion followed by cold feet and an early-morning departure? Did she regret her impulses, to come to him or to sleep with him? Or maybe this was just to avoid having the conversation. He'd done it before, couldn't tell her why he was leaving but knew he had to, but dammit for her to leave a second time was payback way above what he felt he could deserve. Weren't they getting back on the same page again, even with their different lives?

Finn rubbed his face, wiping away something that might or might not have been a tear. He was too tired for this situation, his brain dazed from all the changes Rachel was putting him through, so he lapsed back into sleep, hoping that things wouldn't look quite so bleak in the morning.

He awoke again as his arm was moved, and she was back. He did his best to play dead – he usually slept like a log and she knew it – as she nestled back into him and pulled his arm back around her. Second thoughts? Couldn't leave after all? Or – she smelled clean, and she was wearing clothes, a tank top and shorts.

She'd been washing up.

Finn groaned, then did his best to cover by pulling her tighter against him, still pretending to be mostly asleep. He shifted his hand onto her breast, all the better to keep her there, and hey maybe things would develop in the morning even though he knew they needed to talk instead. He was still very confused about her and whatever it was that was going on between them, so it took a while before he could get back to sleep yet again.

The next time he awoke it was light, and she was turning in his arms to kiss him. Much better.

He smiled at her. "You're still here."

"So are you," she answered, and though her tone was light he could see a small shadow flicker in her eyes.

His smile turned sheepish. "It's my place."

"Is it?" Her question was challenging.

"Well yeah. Name on the door and everything."

She gave a small pout and another kiss, then snuggled into his arms again. "I slept really well," she offered, her head on his shoulder. "I had to put some clothes on, obviously, but –" She sighed. He couldn't quite tell what kind of sigh, and though he waited, she didn't finish her statement.

"Me too," he offered. "Uh, the sleeping part." He was still in just his boxers.

"I'm glad." She sighed again, maybe happy this time. "So we're on break this week at NYADA," she stated. "Mostly people are working on the spring productions but I'm not because I was busy with _Funny Girl_, so..." she bit her lip, her eyes downcast as he looked intently at her. "So I should be able to stay for a little. I don't want to get in the way of anything for you, college life or your studies, but..." she trailed off again.

"But...?" He could tell she was struggling, it wasn't normal for Rachel to have this much trouble talking. She seemed to be angling for an invitation, or for him to complete what she was saying so they'd be working it out together, but – he really needed her to say it on her own. Sure he'd hurt her by taking off on her, but she could tell he'd been hurting too, and knowing she'd fallen into the arms of mister-perfect-body-jackass had smashed his heart into bits. And she would have known it did. So he needed to hear her say the words, needed to know that she would fight for them hard enough to go out on that limb. Even without her knowing what was going on in his life right now.

She swallowed. "But I don't have anything I have to be in New York for, not currently. And the only other place I want to be is with you."

_Yes._ Finn mentally pumped his fist. _Set it free, if it comes back it's yours._ "Well I am pretty busy, college and Glee and all," he said. The corner of his mouth turned up. "But I think I can _squeeze_ you in." He punctuated that statement by tightening his arms around her, and she giggled.

His stomach rumbled, and her giggle turned into a laugh. "Not to mention meals," she said. "Is the food any good here?"

"Beats the stuff in the Army chow line," Finn answered. "But you know I don't care that much, food is food." Since breakfast seemed to be the next order of the day, he loosed her and sat up. "There's even stuff you'd go for."

"I'm not sure whether I should be flattered that you thought of me or insulted at the 'even'," Rachel teased. She stretched and reached for her bag, starting to dig through it for a change of clothes.

Finn pulled on a t-shirt, then simply watched her. He liked being with her like this, sort of domestic. Nobody taking off in a hurry, no fancy new attitude that didn't feel like her, just them being together doing stuff. For however long it would last. Plus she looked really hot bent over like that. "I always think about you," he said quietly.

Rachel turned to smile at him, her face flushing shyly. Their eyes met in a lingering look.

A knock on the door interrupted.

"Uh, just a minute," Finn called out. He quickly put on his jeans and threw a hoodie on over his tee, then opened the door a crack to see who was there: Will Schuester.

"Hey, sorry for bothering you so early," Will said.

"No, it's okay. I was awake already. What's up?"

"Could I come in?"

"Uh... not right now." Finn could hear Rachel behind him, quickly getting dressed.

"Oh. Is –" Will paused. "You've got a girl in there," he said. "Okay, yes, I get it. Sorry, I wasn't expecting that."

_Really? Does everyone think I'm neutered or something? Except Rachel, obviously._ Finn frowned. "It's not what you think."

"No – no, no. That's good. I mean, you can't pine after Rachel forever right? You've got to move on sometime."

"That's not what this is." Finn lowered his voice, hoping that Will would follow suit. He certainly wasn't moving on. But he wasn't pining either. At least he didn't think so. Not now anyway.

"Okay, not moving on exactly, I get it. You're young and in college, it's normal to just have fun sometimes. And I'm sure you'll find the right girl for you, someday. When the time is right."

Finn made a noncommittal noise and tried to wave the subject off. Rachel talked a lot and didn't always seem to listen too well, but he'd found out the hard way that she had superhuman hearing when it came to things he hoped she wouldn't notice. This most definitely qualified.

"Along those lines – " Will held up his left hand, showing Finn the ring on it. "Emma and I got married right after Regionals. Sorry we couldn't have you there, we just needed to go for it without anything stressing her out."

At this the door was pulled from Finn's hand, and a cloud of long brown hair rushed past him.

"Congratulations!" Rachel enthused, hugging Will. "That's so wonderful."

"Uh..." Will hugged her back by reflex, but gave Finn a stunned look. "_Rachel_, uh, thank you." He stammered a little more as the hug finished. "I, uh, sorry we couldn't have you there either, I didn't even know you were in town."

"You're the third to know," she said. "My trip was rather impromptu. But I do have next week off, so I'm available to come and mentor at Glee Club!"

"Uh, well, I guess that's up to my co-coach here. I'm taking a few days."

"Honeymoon. Of course. Please give the new Mrs. Schuester all my best, I hope you two have a wonderful time. Don't worry, the club is in very capable hands." She flushed. "Finn's, I mean. Though of course I will help until I have to go home. Excuse me, I can see you have some important coaching matters to talk about." She gave Will a last beaming smile, then headed down the hall in the direction of the bathroom.

"Come on in," Finn said, escorting Will into his room. "Sorry about that, she showed up yesterday and well –" he shrugged. "Neither of us seems to 'move on' really."

Do – do you think she heard me?" Will asked quietly, grimacing. "She can't have, can she? No."

Finn rolled his eyes mentally. He had tried to head it off. "Well she heard about you getting married," he responded.

"Yeah." Will exhaled sharply, then did his best to smile again, brushing off his embarrassment. "But girls have a sixth sense about that sort of thing, don't they? Wedding stuff. And it doesn't seem like she heard me before."

_Actress_, Finn thought. _And she doesn't want to get into it._ He cleared his throat. "So, uh, what is it you need my help with?"

"Oh. Yes. Well as I said, Emma and I are taking off for a little stress-free honeymoon, so I need you to run practices all week now that your midterms are done. And we're down two members so you should do some more recruiting."

Finn blinked at this direct statement. "Two? I heard about the thing with Brittany, but who's the other?"

"Ryder."

Finn sank down on the end chair. "What happened?" he asked, stunned. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he seems to be. But there have been some tensions, about the whole catfishing thing, and it finally came to a head before Regionals. He came back for the competition, but he was clear that after that he was done."

_Damn_. "So who was it?"

"Unique. But Marley claimed it was her at first." Will sighed. "Between being played and being lied to by others, it's not hard to understand why he'd need his space."

"But Ryder's got nothing else. He was a total loner before he joined Glee, even with him being on the football team. And things aren't good for him at home, sure it's been improving as his grades have gone up but his parents don't get him." Finn was worried. "He's got too much space. If he doesn't have Glee he's got nowhere he can feel he belongs."

"We can't be there for him if he doesn't want us to be." But Will met Finn's eyes. "You're really worried, aren't you?"

"I didn't recruit him into Glee just because he can sing. He needs it. I know he comes across as an ordinary guy – white, straight, athletic, looks like he's got life on the lowest difficulty setting – but there's way more going on with him. It's not obvious like for some of the others, but he's exactly the sort of kid the club is for."

"Hmm."

"We can't let this sit. I'll track him down and talk to him. And see who I can find to replace Brittany, at least to bring us back up to twelve." Replacing her dancing was likely impossible.

"That's great, I knew we could count on you." Will slapped him on the shoulder. "Thanks for taking care of the kids. See you next week."

_'The kids'._ Finn shook his head at that phrase, as Will left. It hadn't been all that long since he was one of 'the kids'. He knew it meant the entire group, all of New Directions; this included someone he'd once stolen a girl from – mostly just to prove that he could – and the dude he still figured could be his brother-in-law someday. And yet he did feel responsible for all of 'the kids', even more than he had during three years as co-captain.

"Trouble?" Rachel was back.

"Yeah." Finn sighed. "Problems with the sophomores in Glee Club. Ryder took some stuff badly and quit." He rubbed his hand over his face. "I'm worried about him," he admitted. "Glee was basically all he had, the first people that accepted him, you know? Now that's gone." He frowned. "I wish I'd been there."

"You had to take care of your own things too," Rachel said, gently stroking his arm. "You can't always put everyone else first. And they have Mr. Schuester just like we did."

"I guess. But Mr. Schue doesn't know the new kids like I do. Especially Ryder. I'll straighten this out right away, I have to." He looked squarely at her. "I know we need to talk, I'm not trying to avoid that, just – I need to take care of this. It's really important."

She gave him a kiss. "You're so hot when you're all serious and take-charge," she murmured. "Throw in your big giant heart and any girl would be putty." She pulled him closer, her hands fingering the edges of his hoodie. "I'll be at my dads'. Call me when you're done."

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